Mega farm investments key to food security – PM
World Bank cautions governments not to hoard produce in panic
PRIME MINISTER Andrew Holness has warned that an infusion of government subventions was not the solution to Jamaica’s food-security concerns, asserting instead that the mobilisation of investment capital into big agricultural projects was crucial to boosting production.
The prime minister said his overseas travels have seen an increase in investment interests wanting to conduct “large-scale type” agro-processing and farming on the island.
“So, the good news is that yes, there is some interest, both local and overseas, for agricultural endeavours within Jamaica. But the real solution is not just going to be local. The solution is actually regional,” he said in a Gleaner interview on Friday.
Holness said that within the Caribbean Community, and in particular Suriname, Belize, and Guyana, there are vast acreages of arable lands to be tapped.
“So, yes, there needs to be a kind of local government response, but there also needs to be a regional response, and that has to be well-coordinated with the private sector. We would be fooling ourselves if we believe that the Government’s response can come in subsidies or some transfers to help with food prices,” he said.
“The real response would have to be a kind of regional strategic approach to see how we can mobilise capital in Jamaica into lands in Jamaica, in Guyana, in Suriname, in Belize, to increase the production in the region so that we don’t have to rely on inputs coming from outside of the region, which is highly susceptible to geopolitical shifts.”
Meanwhile, a steady increase in
food restrictions or outright export bans has pushed the World Bank on the offensive, with the international financial institution campaigning for major producers to “keep their trade open” as worries over food security intensify.
The restrictions, exacerbated by Russia’s two-monthlong invasion of Ukraine, are expected to prolong supply-chain woes first disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The tightening of exports is also threatening to push food costs beyond the 20 per cent increase being felt globally, action Mari Pangestu, managing director of development policy and partnerships at the World Bank, expects to magnify the challenges of developing states heavily dependent on imports.
“It’s very important that countries don’t panic by putting in export restrictions or hoarding because that sharpens the fluctuations i n food prices,” Pangestu, who was on a two-day visit to Jamaica, said last Thursday during a Gleaner interview at The University of the West Indies Regional Headquarters i n St Andrew.
The Russia-Ukraine war, since March, has triggered export bans in several countries, including Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Indonesia has imposed a ban on the export of palm oil, Russia on wheat and barley, Ukraine on fertiliser, while Serbia has limited its output of wheat, corn, flour, and cooking oil.
Pangestu said where countries are insistent on bans, they are to be measured in their impositions to not cause further volatility.
“The answer is not to restrict the supplies in your countries to make sure that you have enough. It’s better for you to have a well-targeted social-protection programme for those who really need help to be able to afford to buy the food,” she said.
Already, countries are looking to retrench, with “a lot” knocking on the door of the World Bank for social-protection assistance, Pangestu disclosed.
Jamaica is not among those clamouring for support, but Holness has admitted that the nation “should be concerned” about the development.
“I think we should be alert. Starting from the household level, everyone should be looking to secure whatever kind of food production they can in their homes,” Holness said Friday.
He cautioned, though, that the country is not yet at the stage where there needs to be an alarm.
But several business leaders have raised concerns in recent weeks, with Richard Pandohie, group CEO of Seprod, warning that Jamaica could find itself in a predicament as a food-supply crisis unfolds globally.
He said that the development ought to be treated as “a national crisis”, while CEO of Grace Kennedy’s domestic foods division, Frank James, has pointed to Jamaica’s vulnerability as a major food importer.
“I agree with the private sector that there needs to be greater national coordination and a greater national plan. I have already tasked the minister of agriculture to get that done,” the prime minister said, noting that “now is the time for the private sector to invest in agriculture”.
He said “massive” investments in industrial-type agriculture have been made in Bernard Lodge, which he said the Government has designated a new zone for development.